BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

1 6 : B V O V The memorial testifi ed of four men who united in prayer for God to move in their land. Their meetings began in a schoolhouse just a few hundred yards from where the plaque rests. Word of the meetings quickly spread, and soon others were joining them— fi lling up that little schoolhouse. They held meetings every day, and the Spirit of God moved in miraculous ways. Over time, tens of thousands of people came to know Jesus in Ulster. One record describes how, on one occasion, so many people dressed in black clothing were laid out under the power of God, the fi eld outside the schoolhouse looked like a sea of black cloth. Now that's what you call revival! Outpourings like the Ulster Revival have occurred in recent years, too. The power of God showed up in the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Fla., and the Toronto Blessing in Canada. And while those outpourings were good and Spirit-led, I believe we're in a new time. In this latest move of God, I sense that you and I, as believers, are to be conduits of God's outpouring right where we are, wherever we are. Instead of going somewhere else in search of the move of God, we're to bring His presence with us. How do we do that? I believe it starts by understanding who Jesus really is. Who Is Jesus—to You? In the Gospel of Matthew, there was an encounter between Jesus and His disciples in which Jesus posed two important questions. They're the same questions we should ask ourselves today. Matthew 16:13 (New King James Version) says, "When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, 'Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?'" The disciples didn't hesitate to respond: "So they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets'" (verse 14, NKJV). As you read through this chapter, you'll notice that Jesus did not respond immediately to those words. He knew His disciples didn't believe it. They were merely repeating what others had said. Instead, Jesus followed up with a second, more important question. "'But who do you say that I am?'" (verse 15, NKJV). Jesus began by asking His disciples what others called Him, but He ended by asking what they called Him. As believers, we often point to the world and ask, "Who do they say Jesus is?" But a much more important question is, "Who do I say Jesus is?" How we answer this question determines who we allow Him to be in our lives. We know what Scripture says about Jesus, and we know Scripture is truth. But each of us determines whether we allow the Word of God and the revelation of who Jesus is to change our lives. Several years ago, I traveled to Ireland for the fi rst time to minister to believers in that beautiful country. While I was there, my friends took me to the site of the Ulster Revival of 1859 in Northern Ireland. The site sits on the side of a nondescript road, where there was a small memorial plaque that described the supernatural outpouring that occurred there. We carry the voice. We carry the authority. We carry the dominion. Who Do You Say Jesus Is?

• Cover